The properties of 3 cooling flow clusters, i.e. A 262, A 496 and Hydra A, with arange of mass accretion rate are studied. All clusters have a medium angularsize allowing adequate spatially resolved spectroscopy with XMM-EPIC of theentire cluster with a single pointing. Some targets yield good quality RGSspectra that potentially provide important spectral details in the band below 1keV, in particular on the presence and nature of X-ray absorbing material. XMMwill not only provide accurate measurements of the radial temperature andabundance distribution but will also allow a search for hard X-ray tails andresonance scattering effects, providing a detailed insight in the physicalprocesses in the hot cluster gas.
Instrument
EMOS1, EMOS2, EPN, OM, RGS1, RGS2
Temporal Coverage
2001-02-01T11:37:37Z/2001-02-01T23:05:27Z
Version
17.56_20190403_1200
Mission Description
The European Space Agencys (ESA) X-ray Multi-Mirror Mission (XMM-Newton) was launched by an Ariane 504 on December 10th 1999. XMM-Newton is ESAs second cornerstone of the Horizon 2000 Science Programme. It carries 3 high throughput X-ray telescopes with an unprecedented effective area, and an optical monitor, the first flown on a X-ray observatory. The large collecting area and ability to make long uninterrupted exposures provide highly sensitive observations. Since Earths atmosphere blocks out all X-rays, only a telescope in space can detect and study celestial X-ray sources. The XMM-Newton mission is helping scientists to solve a number of cosmic mysteries, ranging from the enigmatic black holes to the origins of the Universe itself. Observing time on XMM-Newton is being made available to the scientific community, applying for observational periods on a competitive basis.
European Space Agency, Prof Johan Bleeker, 2002, 'X-ray spectroscopy of cooling flow clusters', 17.56_20190403_1200, European Space Agency, https://doi.org/10.5270/esa-13wg44z